In House Bill 1703, filed at the 15th Congress, its author Biazon said that the Land Bank of the Philippines should provide micro-credit financing to its clients.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 3844 or The Code of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines by institutionalizing micro-credit financing as part of Land Bank’s functions.

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“As a government universal bank, Land Bank’s vision is to be a dominant financial institution in the countryside leading the nation to economic prosperity,” Biazon said.

HB 1703 will authorize Land Bank to provide private individuals or informal groups of persons with collateral-free loans worth P2,000 to P20,000 to finance small-scale businesses.

Land Bank will be required to allocate 25 percent of its loan portfolio to micro-lending and submit an annual report on its micro-lending operations to Congress for monitoring purposes.

The measure, which the Muntinlupa City legislator seeks to re-file in the 16th Congress, will help micro-entrepreneurs boost economic development in far-flung areas.

“Micro-entrepreneurs thrive in the rural areas like the sari-sari store operators, tricycle drivers, candy vendors and suppliers of daily newspapers,” said the lawmaker.

He said that micro-financing would help those in need to build assets, increase incomes and reduce their vulnerability to economic stress “because, first, they maximize resources abundant in their community. Second, they bank on locally available human resources.”

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